Eventually the thunder wanes. I look through the pod window, expecting to see only blackness. But there is a distinctive glimmer, greenish and persistent, even against the thick filter of coal dust.

I close my hand over my mouth.

She pushes past me.

I follow her, choking on the fumes and dust.

The emerald light presses through the collapsed tunnel, shining like a lamp covered with perforated black felt. For a long time, we simply stand. Then something squeezes through the piled rocks. It rolls nearer to us with patient velocity.

I turn to Rita, who looks bolted in place. Terror blanches her face and makes her jaw hang slack.

I step forward.

“No!” I hear my sister scream, seemingly from the far end of the world. “No, goddamn it!”

I reach down, pick up the luminous object, and turn back to Rita.

I roll this newfound gift in my palm before halving it with a forceful twist.

“It’s from our Father,” I inform her with a knowledge that seems to originate outside of myself.

Rita reaches for her half but quickly drops her hand. She watches in mute but visible agony as I bite into the apple.

The Patter of Tiny Feet

The Patter of Tiny Feet

Against his better judgment Sam stopped the car and allowed his Smartphone to connect with Andrea’s. The earpiece purled enough times to allow him to envision Andrea sitting with arms crossed, eyeing her vibrating phone, ignoring his extension of the olive branch. Choking back the indignation he truly believed was righteous, Sam obeyed the recorded instructions and waited for the tone.

“Hi, it’s me,” he began, trying not to be distracted by the escarpment’s belittling sprawl of glacial rock and ancient forests. “Look, I’m sorry I stormed out like that. It was childish of me, I admit. I’m happy about your promotion, I truly am, it’s just…well…I suppose I was a little shocked by how much your new position alters our plans.” He was lecturing again. Andrea had accused him of it often enough. Was he also being high-handed, as she liked to claim? “Anyhow, I really do have some scouting to do, that wasn’t a lie. But I wanted to call you before I got too far out and lost the signal. I’ve got my equipment in the car with me. I’m going to snap a few locations just to get Dennis off my back. I should be back in a few hours, so hopefully we can talk more then. Don’t worry, I’m not going to try and get you to change your mind about anything. I…I guess I just need to know that a family’s not completely off the table for us. It doesn’t have to be tomorrow, but at some point in the not too distant future I’d…”